There was a lot of shock and outrage when the New York Times headlined with the controversial revelation of this classified program. Many viewed this as an act of treason. The ACLU viewed it as an opportunity. They launched a full out war against the administration and this program in the name of protecting privacy.

The ACLU gathered together journalists and other well known individuals who engage in a substantial number of international conversations and brought a lawsuit against the government over the fears they may have been wiretapped. They lost in this attempt for the simple fact that they had no evidence or standing. Of course they didn’t give up. They just changed tactics, and turned the volume up on Congress.

The debate turned to the issue of warrants. The government argued that warrants weren’t necessary due to the nature of the program and the kinds of data collected. They cited how slow the process was and how it caused many important leads to be lost. Having to wait on a warrant to be approved could be the difference between life and death in some cases. The other side argued the fourth amendment protection against unreasonable searches. FISA was later amended to allow for retroactive warrants to be issued in some cases.

This was still not enough for the privacy advocates, and they continued their fight. When the current legislation came up, President Bush called on Congress to renew the TSA and the debate changed to telecom immunity. It had now been revealed that U.S. telecommunication companies had cooperated with government efforts to monitor calling patterns between certain suspicious numbers. This opened up an entirely new battle front for the civil liberties groups. After calling on Congress to come up with a compromise for six months, and giving them a two week extension, Congress allowed this legislation to expire. The ACLU and others cheered this.

The issue of telecom immunity ostensibly centers on the ability of ordinary American citizens to sue their phone company for violating their privacy. In reality, a FISA bill passed without telecom immunity would leave the phone companies at the mercy of the ACLU and other consumer groups whose lawsuits would not only cost hundreds of millions of dollars to defend but have a deadening effect on any future cooperation between telecoms and the government in the area of national security. This, of course, is one of the ACLU’s goals.

After months of debate, and who knows how much lost intelligence, the House finally came to a bi-partisan compromise. This puts the issue of telecom immunity into the hands of District Courts instead of the FISA court as the White House had wanted. However, it allows them to argue that the written assurances given to them by the government should grant them immunity from lawsuits. This seems like a common sense compromise that provides the NSA all the tools it needs, and also allows some sense of protection for the telecoms for their patriotic efforts to protect us by cooperating with the government. Of course this still does not satisfy the ACLU who are calling this bill unconstitutional, and asking their members to tell the Senate to vote against it. The ultimate fate of the legislation now depends on the Senate vote. Even if the bill passes the Senate, the fight by the ACLU will continue.

Meanwhile, our intelligence gathering capabilities are crippled and will remain so until lawmakers can come into accord.

2 Comments, 2 Threads

Considering the sheer lawlessness at the FBI involving their use of the National Security Letters, you might want to show some respect for the the recalcitrance that many feel toward this generally warrant-free wiretapping. It’s a myth that the federal government is actually doing anything about the abuses. The NSA is even less transparent than the FBI, and yet you just plug your ears, seeing no evil, hearing no evil with the potential for abuse here.

Your argument might make some sense if the federal government hadn’t been showing that it is about as responsible with these new powers from 9-11 on, as a typical teen is with a bottle of whiskey and the keys to a fast sports car.